Despite its rugged appearance of sandstone pinnacles and arches, the ecosystem of Arches National Park in Utah, U.S.A. is very fragile. Beyond the normal ‘high desert’ environment, this beautiful landscape is home to microbial communities in the soil called cryptobiotic crusts. These biological soil crusts are very vulnerable to damage and when harmed they can take years to grow back. These barren ...[Read More]
GeoPolicy: My experience with the EGU’s science-policy pairing scheme
“Thanks for coming, but no time for celebratory drinks,” I told my colleagues. I arrived in Brussels right after defending my doctoral thesis to brief the Finnish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Miapetra Kumpula-Natri and her team about the impact of sea-level rise and climate change on the coastal communities of the Baltic Sea. Climate science? Baltic Sea? EU Parliament? I was soon bombar ...[Read More]
Imaggeo On Mondays: Contrasted island in the Mozambic Canal
Mayotte, the so-called “perfume island”, is a volcanic island of the Comoros Archipelago and a French overseas department which hit the headlines in 2018-2019 with an enigmatic as well as frightening seismic swarm, recently linked to the appearance of a new submarine volcano nearby. Surrounded by one of the largest lagoons in the World and sprinkled with small islands, Mayotte only rea ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: A biogeocaching scavenger hunt for Earth science outreach
Did you know that the EGU has a public engagement grant scheme? We’ll be awarding three EGU members with 1500€ to help them develop an outreach project that aims to raise awareness of geosciences outside the scientific community. The 2020 call for applications is currently open. In this GeoTalk interview, Olivia Trani talks to Astrid Harjung, Laura Coulson, Romana Hödl and Katrin Attermeyer, resea ...[Read More]